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Gooseberryleaf Globemallow (Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia)

from $8.99

Botanical name: Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia ‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Late spring to early summer • Bloom color: Orange-red • Host plant (Great Basin): painted lady, northern white-skipper, common checkered-skipper, west coast lady, white checkered-skipper

Orange-red cups along upright stems over gray-green lobed leaves, blooming in late spring and early summer. It is the Great Basin's own globemallow, so it is better adapted to Northern Nevada than its desert cousin and hardier through a cold winter. Xerces flags it as especially valuable for native bees, including globemallow specialists. Those specialists are part of twenty-eight recorded on globemallows across the western US, bees whose young can eat globemallow pollen and nothing else.

Botanical name: Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia ‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Late spring to early summer • Bloom color: Orange-red • Host plant (Great Basin): painted lady, northern white-skipper, common checkered-skipper, west coast lady, white checkered-skipper

Orange-red cups along upright stems over gray-green lobed leaves, blooming in late spring and early summer. It is the Great Basin's own globemallow, so it is better adapted to Northern Nevada than its desert cousin and hardier through a cold winter. Xerces flags it as especially valuable for native bees, including globemallow specialists. Those specialists are part of twenty-eight recorded on globemallows across the western US, bees whose young can eat globemallow pollen and nothing else.

Size:

Plant Characteristics

Botanical Name: Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia

Common Name: Gooseberryleaf Globemallow

Native: Native

Sun: Full Sun

Water: Low

Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer

Bloom Color: Orange-red

Pollinators: Bees; Butterflies

Deer Resistant: Not recorded

Mature Size: W 20"-30" x H 1'-2.5'

Soil: Sharply drained; sandy or loamy, tolerates alkaline and saline soil

Plant Type: Herbaceous perennial

USDA Zones: 4 to 9

Spread Habit: Clumping; self-sows

Available As: Live plant

Native Region: Great Basin; Colorado Plateau; Columbia Plateau

Host Plant (Great Basin): painted lady, northern white-skipper, common checkered-skipper, west coast lady, white checkered-skipper

Growing Notes

Full sun and sharply drained sandy or loamy ground. It tolerates alkaline and even saline soil, making it useful on difficult sites, but it performs poorly in clay. Space about 2 feet apart. No summer irrigation once established. Note that NRCS records it as palatable browse for deer and antelope, so it is not deer-proof despite the fuzzy leaves.

  • Water: Low

  • Sun: Full Sun

  • Soil: Sharply drained; sandy or loamy; tolerates alkaline and saline soil

  • Mature size: W 20"-30" x H 1'-2.5'

Maintenance

Shear back by a third after flowering for a possible rebloom and to keep it tidy. Leave growth standing through winter for crown protection and cut back in late spring. Do not water or fertilize once established. Let some seed drop, since it is not especially long-lived.